In his new book, The twenty-first Century Mind (“The 21st Century Brain”), scientist Hannah Critchlow explores the often overlooked skills that will be needed to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence and how we can cultivate them.
With the world around us changing at an ever-accelerating pace, you may fantasize about “upgrading” your brain so you can make sense of it all.
At first glance, this would seem impossible: our gray and white matter has largely the same structure as that of our Stone Age ancestors. In fact, if anything, our brains are a little smaller: archaeological remains suggest they have shrunk significantly over the past 10,000 years.
However, Hannah Critchlow, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, offers many reasons to be optimistic. In his new book, he explains how we can all develop the mental flexibility that will be necessary to face the challenges ahead.
“I basically wrote it for myself, so I could make better decisions and improve my own life, especially now that I’m going through middle age,” she tells me. “But also for my parents, so they can maintain a healthy brain in old age, and for my son, who is now 10 years old. What can I do to help his brain flourish?”
Read on to discover their secrets to prepare your mind for the future.
What inspired you to explore the concept of the 21st century brain?
I started working on this book three years ago, and since then there has been an explosion of advances in artificial intelligence. But even then it was already evident that this technology was going to begin to break into all aspects of our lives, both on a social and individual level. And, both then and now, there was a lot of excitement about it, but also a lot of fear.
I wanted to step back and recognize that artificial intelligence was developed from the knowledge we have obtained from neuroscience. So I thought: what if we turned that idea on its head and asked how we can use that knowledge to make the most of the intelligence we already have in our own organic brain?
The same understanding that has driven these technological advances can unlock the human cognitive potential we all have.
What were your criteria for selecting the skills that will be most important in the 21st century?
I wanted to focus on skills that have often been overlooked by scientists, but are fundamental to our ability to connect with others, imagine a new world, innovate, solve problems, and think long-term.
As we live in a time of unprecedented social and technological change, I examine our ability to tolerate change, uncertainty, and ambiguity.
All of this, in essence, requires good “bioenergetics”, so I also analyze the mitochondria, the energy centers of our cells.
Let’s start with emotional intelligence and empathy, which are often considered “soft skills.”
Levels of emotional intelligence and empathy can be one of the biggest predictors of how satisfied we feel with our lives, how positive our relationships are with others, and also academic success.
When we look at the genetic data, it seems that these abilities have a hereditary component of between 10% and 45%, but we can all train our emotional intelligence and our empathy.
Jamil Zaki, a psychologist at Stanford University, argues that we can start by showing a little compassion toward ourselves. We just need to take a moment to ask ourselves: “Why am I feeling this emotion?” and “What can I do to help myself manage this feeling and feel more comfortable?”
Once you start practicing a little self-compassion, its effects ripple out to others.
You also argue that altruistic behavior could come—literally—from our guts.
There’s a really fascinating study by Hilke Plassmann and colleagues, who looked at 100 healthy volunteers taking pre- and probiotics. After just seven weeks, they had a more diverse gut microbiome compared to those who took placebo, and they were also much more altruistic.
For example, participants were more willing to give up some of their own money in the name of equality. In other words, their levels of altruism changed by having a much more diverse gut microbiome. Isn’t it amazing?
Without a doubt, how is it possible that intestinal bacteria can change our behavior?
The mechanism is not completely understood, but there are a large number of nerves in the intestine and also in the heart. When you have a “hunch” or a “gut feeling,” it is because all those cells are sending signals through the vagus nerve to the insula, a region of the brain involved in perceiving the environment and gathering information, and then to the decision-making areas.
Gut bacteria are thought to produce chemical neurotransmitters that alter the activity of neural circuits and shape our behavior, including our social interactions.
And what about creativity? There’s a wonderful line in your book where you say that, from the point of view of a neuroscientist, the difference between a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or an Ada Lovelace and the rest of us is only slight. How can we further develop these talents?
One way is to make better use of our dreamy moments. We spend 20% of our day with our mind wandering, that is, without thinking about something specific or trying to achieve a specific goal, and that is precisely when new tips begin to emerge.
The brain simply begins to dwell on different things that were floating around in the mind. And we know that going for a walk in nature can help in that process. It helps increase a very particular frequency of electrical brain oscillations called alpha waves, which are associated with calm and creative thinking.
That’s probably why Archimedes also had his famous eureka moment while he was in the bath, relaxing in the water.
We also know that sleep is important for creativity, especially at that time when you start to fall asleep and think in strange, fragmented ways. Again, this allows for brain waves associated with increased creativity.
It is said that Thomas Edison held a metal object on a steel tray; When he dropped it and the noise woke him up, he would write down any new thoughts he had.
You also argue that staying physically fit could help us better face the challenges of the 21st century.
We know that physical activity is not only incredibly good for the body, but also for the brain, because it allows the creation of new nerve cells and neural circuits.
This helps us think in new ways and incorporate new information, so that we maintain the agility and flexibility of the brain.
Which brings us to bioenergetics. What is it and how do you apply that knowledge in your own life?
Bioenergetics depends on our mitochondria, the tiny energy plants of our cells.
Our brain uses enormous amounts of energy to think in different ways, so anything we can do to help our mitochondria produce clean, efficient energy is going to contribute to all that mental juggling.
I exercise, because that helps the mitochondria multiply and therefore helps you have more “energy plants” in your brain and body.
I make sure I get enough sleep, because that’s when the body can clean out the toxic waste left behind by energy production.
And I eat healthy, so my mitochondria have the right fuel and can produce the right kind of energy. That means not consuming too much sugar or ultra-processed foods.
Finally, what advice would you give to someone who feels overwhelmed by the current pace of life?
It’s funny, because in a sense the human brain has a hard time dealing with change, and the uncertainty and ambiguity that comes with it.
But, as a species, we seem to be driven to innovate, to move in different directions, to explore and to be curious.
So there’s always been a tension between those two forces, and I think it helps to simply accept that that’s part of the natural predisposition of our species: to create change and, at the same time, be a little afraid of it.
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